17 May 2009

More Alicante pictures this week. Summer has well and truly begun, and the beach plays a bigger part in our lives than at other times of the year. But I start with a couple of pictures from an important Alicante landmark.

Main
Castillo Santa Barbara is an old Moorish castle, begun in the 9th century. It is located on a hill overlooking the town, which must have given it great strategic value in the Middle Ages. Today it is a museum, but more than anything a nice park from which one can look at the city below:

The alternates:

Alternate 1
The castle road is popular among mountain-bikers. Lots of work to get up, lots of speed on the way down. The day was hot and hazy:

Alternate 2
Family on the beach. Playa Muchavista is where we lived until June 2008. Now it is a few km away, but we still go there on bicycle from time to time:

Alternate 3
Do NOT stop to smell the flowers 😉 They get watered by all the neighbourhood dogs:

Alternate 4
The city of Alicante has started a campaign to get people to pick up their dogs’ droppings. The slogan reads “Alicante is your home”. I find the poster amusing:

Alternate 5
When walking the dog, I always look at the handbills posted on light poles. This one is especially amusing, offering a number of handyman-type services under the headline “Husband for rent”:

Alternate 6
This business has been closed since well before the current crisis hit. I liked the faded sign and the colours:

Alternate 7
Friday afternoon I took a walk in El Campello. This picture is part of my “shadow and light” series:

Alternate 8
An old man watches the activity on the beach, perhaps thinking back to his own youth many years ago:

Alternate 9
From a distance, it looks as if the man is checking out the flesh being browned:

Alternate 10
People playing in the water:

Alternate 11
The nice thing about the beaches in El Campello is that there is a promenade stretching for several km, so one can enjoy the beach without actually venturing into the sand. I like to walk along this promenade, pausing for a beer at one of the bars as needed, and looking at the human traffic. Here, a little dog has quite a bit of pulling power:

Alternate 12
A girl on the balustrade in late afternoon:

Alternate 13
The find of the week was a bar which has a great selection of Belgian beer, and an attractive and friendly barmaid to boot: